Gathering of Champions
by wren10514
Summary: God that's an awful title. The Scoobies need help with the First so the PTBs send in everyone they can spare. includes Doyle from ATS and Oz. Rated for safety.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: for fun, not profit.

Summary: AU – Spike's chip has been removed but only Giles knows. Willow didn't get the call from Fred so never went to LA.

**AN: I'm putting up the first three chapters all at once, but this will only get updated if people say they want more - so if you like it (or don't like it and want me to stop) please review.**

"How was patrol?"

Buffy closed the back door behind her and joined Spike at the kitchen counter.

"Quiet. Guess even the demons don't want to be around when the first does its thing."

"And how are you?" Spike asked, gaze focused on her like she was the only thing in the world.

Buffy didn't want to meet those eyes; those eyes that bored into her soul and let all her pain come flowing out again. She turned her face away quickly, but couldn't stop a sigh escaping her lips.

"You mean apart from deal with a house full of teenage girls while battling the original evil in the world? Yeah, I'm just peachy."

Spike stood and she knew he wanted to comfort her. The problem was she wanted it too, wanted the feeling of someone who loved her taking care of her for once, but she couldn't let him: anyone but Spike, but the one she really wanted.

Before he could come any closer and melt away her resolve completely a strange noise sounded from the basement: a surprised voice followed quickly by a meaty thud.

"What was that?" Spike asked as they both moved towards the stairs down to the basement. There shouldn't be anyone down there. Since Spike had taken it over the girls didn't go near it unless they absolutely had to and besides everyone else was asleep. Leading the way quickly down the rickety stairs Buffy noticed the naked form of a man lying (mercifully) face down, and groaning as he tried to sit up. As they both reached the bottom of the stairs Spike whipped a blanket off what passed for his bed and wrapped it round the guy as he helped him sit up.

"Where the hell am I?" A thick Irish accent asked. "And why am I naked?"

"Both very good questions" Buffy replied, her own surprise evident in her voice. "But do you want to start with who you are or maybe how you managed to fall out of thin air?"

The man on the floor peered up at Spike and Buffy. He looked kind of weasel-y, but not particularly evil, though Buffy was prepared to treat anyone who fell out of thin air as evil until proven otherwise, especially at the moment. Spike had touched him so it couldn't be the First in person (as it were) but that didn't mean he couldn't be one of the First's games.

"I'm Doyle," the man answered, his eyes widening suddenly as he made out who he was with. "Hey I know you! Yeah, yeah we met once in LA when you came to see Angel."

Buffy didn't like to think about that trip to LA, but she did have a vague memory of a guy in a loud shirt. As Doyle took hold of the blanket for himself, Spike moved to stand next to Buffy and Doyle recoiled as he realised who else he was with.

"Yeah and I know you too Spike," he spat the word as if it left a bad taste in his mouth, but then seemed to notice something. "Huh…though I must say you're looking rather more ensouled than the last time I saw you. How'd you manage that? Those gypsies get everywhere, don't they?" He said with a wry smile.

"It wasn't gypsies," Spike said morosely and Buffy decided to leap in before this guy trampled all over anymore delicate territory.

"How'd you know that? And anyway we still haven't covered why you're naked in my basement."

"_You're_ basement? …And a very lovely basement it is too, as basements go I've never been in a nicer one." Doyle coughed.

Buffy was getting annoyed now. "You're not answering the question…questions."

"Ah well, you see the thing is up until about five minutes ago I was dead, though it seems the Powers That Be have had other plans along that line. And the other, well," he suddenly exploded into blue spikes all over a forest green skin, quickly shaking himself to return to at least the appearance of humanity. "Even half-demons can spot a soul when they see one."

Buffy and Spike had both taken a hasty step back into a ready fighting posture at the sight of his demon form and warily shared a look they would have flatly denied if anyone had mentioned it.

"Huh," Buffy said, breaking the growing silence. "You always been half-demon, 'cause I don't remember that from last time."

"Well no offence princess, but I don't remember you stickin' around for long last time. Anyway I don't like doing that – prefer to stay human as much as possible, you know? But I figure we've got to start from a place of trust right?" There was a pause. "Now do you think I could get some clothes?"

Buffy snapped back to herself. "Uh, of course, there must be something around you can wear, though there's not a lot of guys in the house."

Spike strode over to his things and threw a pair of trousers and a black shirt his way. "Here, you can wear these till morning at least. We can get you some new stuff then."

"Thanks."

"Come up to the kitchen when you're done. There's still some things I want to talk to you about." Buffy said, heading for the stairs.

"No problem. I'm here to help after all."


	2. Chapter 2

"You said you're here to help?" Buffy asked, standing across from the half-demon perched on a stool. He looked a bit ridiculous in Spike's clothes (they managed to be too tight and too long at the same time) but at least he wasn't naked any more.

"You got it." Doyle seemed awfully cheery. "The Powers figured you might need a helping hand so they're gathering up all the people who might have something to offer and sending them to you."

"The potentials and you?" Spike seemed unimpressed, "You're going to help us stop the first evil?"

Doyle raised up his hands in defence. "Hey don't shoot the messenger, I just go where they send me, you know? Anyway it's not just us – there's others to come, well at least that's the message. I've no idea what we've gotta do, they just kinda dropped me off."

"No offence, but why would they do that? Why would they send you back? I mean sure, demon form that looks like a crazy pin-cushion, but what makes you so special?"

Doyle got a pained look. "I get these visions, direct link to the Powers That Be, though they're not exactly gentle when it comes to messing with my head. Just think of me as your early warning system, though to be honest I think they're sending you everyone they can spare. This is the biggest deal right here, but it's not the only deal right now. There's a lot of bad in the world and not that many champions to go round."

"Yeah, kinda noticed that…" Buffy looked thoughtful for a moment. "Tell me something. Do you remember what it was like? When you were dead?"

Doyle could tell this question meant more to her than she was letting on, though he didn't know why.

"Sorry. Guess the Powers didn't want me blabbing to everyone what it was like to be dead…I don't remember a thing."

Buffy looked at the floor. "You're lucky…"

Spike had been standing patiently by her side, but now stepped forward, a look of concern clear on his face.

"Buffy…"

The Slayer put out a hand to stop him coming any closer, but the look that passed between them said everything. Doyle wondered if Angel knew just how close his ex and his progeny were, and quickly decided he was definitely not going to be the one to break the news.

Buffy broke the look first, leaving Spike gazing at her on his own.

"Look we don't have a lot of room here at the moment, but if you're willing to help we'll find something. It's not exactly cosy but you can stay in the basement with Spike?"

"Thanks. Think I might stay up though. It feels just a bit too creepy going to sleep after coming back from the dead."

She forced a smile. "I know what you mean. Took me hours to get to sleep last time I was brought back."

"You've done it more than once?"

The shock on his face was too funny, and Buffy actually managed to laugh.

"Yeah, but right now I'm just gonna go to sleep. G'night."

Once Buffy left Doyle turned to Spike.

"So last time I saw you you were all about the big bad, trying to get the ring of Amara 'n all. What happened?"

Spike chuckled, though he didn't seem particularly happy. "A lot of stuff. It's been over three years…"

"Fuck I've been dead for three years? I mean I knew it had been a while, but three years…"

"You going to tell Angel you're back?"

Doyle shook his head. "Nah, he doesn't need to know. He's got his own problems right now and I think he'd be a bit upset that I got to be the one who came back."

Spike frowned. "What?"

"I think he would have preferred Cordy coming back…" He noticed the surprise on the vampire's face and started again. "You didn't know Cordelia died?"

"Uh, no."

There was a series of thumps from upstairs. Spike sighed.

"Sound like the Slayerettes are starting their daily fight for the bathroom. It's almost dawn…I'll be in the basement."

Without another word he left, slouching down the stairs to the sunlight-free basement just as a thunder of footsteps came down the stairs. A gangly girl with long sandy hair came barrelling into the kitchen but stopped short when she saw the strange man sitting there.

"Who are you? Are you dead?"

Doyle smiled. "Now that's a far more interesting question than you might suspect. I'm Doyle and I'm not the First if that's what you're wondering. See?" He picked up a glass off the counter. "Corporeal."

"Oh, ok."

There were the sounds of more footsteps and a whole gaggle of teenage girls were suddenly in the doorway.

"Who's that?" A timid girl with short red hair asked.

"Oh it's ok," the gangly one replied, gesticulating widely with a skinny arm. "He's not the First."

"O-ok."

With that girls streamed into the kitchen and Doyle quickly beat a retreat to the living room, where a beafy guy with dark hair was blearily rubbing his eyes and sitting up.

"Hey,"

"Hi. Are those all potential Slayers?"

"Yeah little bundles of joy aren't they?" Sarcasm dripped from his words as he blinked and finally managed to focus. "And you are?"

"Oh hi, I'm Doyle." Doyle offered his hand as an introduction and way to prove his wasn't a manifestation of the first evil.

"I'm Xander. You here to join the good fight?"

Doyle fidgeted nervously. "Don't see what's so good about it, but I'm here to help." Xander's eyes were following the lines of the ill-fitting clothes. "Ah, uh, these are Spike's. Kinda turned up in a hurry and didn't have any of my own clothes…"

"You turned up at the door naked?"

Buffy sauntered into the room running a hand through her hair. "He dropped out of thin air in the basement."

Xander nodded. "Of course why didn't I think of that? Spell?"

"Back from the dead." Doyle offered.

"Cool. Come on, some of my old clothes will probably fit you better."


	3. Chapter 3

They headed over to Xander's old apartment to get the clothes. They did fit surprisingly well and he even had shirt Doyle remembered having himself when he had been alive before. By the time they got back most of the potentials were in the back yard having a talk from Buffy about their training for the day before she and Dawn headed off to school. Doyle and Xander wandered round to take look.

"See they seem calm now, but trust me, as soon as Buffy's gone these girls go berserk."

Doyle nodded. "I believe you man." He felt a sneeze building up and tried to stop it. "Ah fuck I'm gonna sneeze. Shit."

Xander was a bit confused. He was getting on well with Doyle – it was nice to have another guy around – but its only a sneeze...

"What dude, it's just a-"

"Achoo!!"

The girls screamed and Xander backed away sharply, tripping over his feet and landing sat on the ground as Doyle's demon form made itself known. Buffy turned quickly ready for a fight, but relaxed when she saw what it was.

"Do you have to do that when I'm talking?" She asked.

"Sorry," Doyle said, quickly shaking it off. "I can't always help it."

Buffy rolled her eyes and turned back to her students. "Learn from this. People are not always what they seem. Most of you guys met Doyle this morning and none of you thought he could be a demon-"

"Half demon." Doyle corrected.

"Half demon," Buffy admitted not losing the flow of her speech. "Be prepared. Be vigilant." There was a long pause as each girl wilted a little under her stern attitude. "Come on Dawn, we better get to school."

Xander stood slowly as Buffy left, brushing the dirt off his trousers and leading the way into the house through the back door.

"So, half demon, huh?"

As they stepped into the kitchen, they met Spike, trapped on the threshold of the basement by the sunlight.

"I heard screaming. Something wrong?"

"Nah, Doyle just surprised them is all what with the suddenly being all green and pointy – by the way what kind of demon is that?"

"Bracken," Spike interjected with a smile, "Am I right?"

"On my dad's side," Doyle replied, "my mum raised me human."

"Who's not human?" Willow asked as she breezed into the kitchen.

Xander got in first. "Hi Willow! This is Doyle, turned up last night, mostly human but actually half demon. Doyle this is Willow, wicca extraordinaire."

"Hi. That's some freakishly strong power you've got there…"

Willow blushed, looking nervous. "I don't mean to. I mean I don't use it any more anyway." There was a pause. "You can tell?"

Doyle shrugged. "It's a demon thing."

There was a knock at the front door and Willow spoke over her shoulder as she went to get it. "Well, welcome to the fight-"

She opened the door.

"Hey."

Willow backed off at the sight of the man in the doorway, too shocked to speak.

Finally she managed to croak out "…Oz…"

"Oz?" Xander came hurrying up behind her and leaned passed to clap his old friend on the shoulder, pulling him into the house. "Hey Oz! It's great to see you! What've you been up to?"

Oz shrugged noncommittally. "Hey Xander. Not much. Gigging again."

Doyle, still in the kitchen crossed his arms over his chest and leaned towards Spike, speaking softly. "Am I missing something here? There's more tension than generally present when seeing an old friend."

"Don't ask me." Spike replied. "Wolf boy disappeared coupla years ago. Him and the witch had a thing before she started playing for the all girl team."

"Huh. I'd say that's enough to make things interesting round here." Doyle muttered before stepping forward himself. "Oz, hi! Doyle, we met in LA over the whole Spike torturing Angel business."

"Hey, yeah I remember. How you been?"

Willow jumped in as they shook hands. "Spike's good now though – got a soul and everything."

Oz met her frantic nervousness serenely. "That's cool." He turned back to Doyle. "So did Angel know? That you're half demon?"

Xander held up his hands. "Hold on a minute! How did _you_ know?"

Oz smiled. "Werewolf, remember?"

"You mean you could smell…?" Xander began. "Never mind."

"So Oz," Doyle interjected quickly, "What brings you to Sunnydale? Social call or here to fight the forces of the ultimate evil?"

"Ultimate evil."

"You know?" Willow asked. "About the First? How..?"

"The biggest bad lets out a bit of vibe. There isn't anything magical in the world who isn't feeling it."

"Hey, I wasn't even in the world and I got the message," Doyle grinned.

Kennedy sauntered up, wiping the sweat from her brow with a towel and holding a soda fresh from the fridge.

"Hey. What's going on?"

Willow's eyes widened.

"Kennedy! Uh Kennedy this is Oz, Oz this is Kennedy."

Xander met Doyle's eyes.

"Hey Doyle, how about we sort you out somewhere to sleep tonight?"

Doyle took in the interesting triangle around Willow in a glance. "Sure, let's do that."

While they beat a hasty retreat Willow fidgeted nervously.

"So!"

"It's ok Will," Oz said, "We haven't been together for years."

Willow didn't seem comforted. "I know, but-"

"You used to go out with a guy?!" Kennedy asked, all tact.

Oz didn't seem to mind. "Yeah we used to date, but it's no big deal. Look why don't you fill me in on what's going on?"


	4. Chapter 4

The sun was setting and most of the enlarged Summers household were eating in the living room or fixing themselves something in the kitchen. Spike was glad he wasn't a part of the scramble. He could fetch his blood from the fridge much later, safe in the knowledge that there was no else who'd go near it. Still, he knew Buffy liked to get everyone while they were together after they'd eaten, so he cautiously made his way up to the kitchen, one of the girls graciously lowering the blinds against the last of the sun for him when she saw him. He wasn't friendly with any of the girls and that was just fine with him, but he appreciated these little signs of respect and flicked a brief smile her way which she hesitantly returned.

Doyle was there, nibbling on a sandwich at the edge of the crowd.

"It's like those documentaries with ants swarming over a locust-" Doyle began, his face suddenly going rigid.

Spike frowned, confused. "Hey are you-"

Doyle croaked out a scream, making the girls yelp and doubled over, holding his head before careening backwards into the wall and coming to an undignified stop slouched on the kitchen floor still holding his head with one hand.

"Fuck," he mumbled as Buffy and the others came charging in from the living room.

"What the hell's going on?" Buffy demanded loudly. "I heard screams."

"Ah! Have a little sympathy for the man with migraine here!"

"Are you alright? What was that?" Spike asked.

Doyle settled into a more comfortable position, but stayed sat on the floor, not trusting himself to stand just yet. The potentials were all staring at him wide-eyed and fearful and he knew what he was about to say wasn't going to make things any better.

"Vision. There's someone coming. A guy…looks like a priest, but from what I've seen I'm guessing he's evil enough to be an agent of the First, and he's strong…really strong…ah fuck! Someone want to get me an aspirin?"

There was a scuffling of footsteps and a few moments shocked silence before a small hand held a couple of tablets and a glass of water under his nose. He took them gladly, though he would have preferred whiskey to wash them down with. He looked up to see the Slayer's sister hovering over him, the murmur of worried teenage voices returning to the house.

"Thanks," he managed a smile though he felt like his head was about to split open.

The sunny grin that she returned was worth it. "No problem."

"Here," Spike's gruff voice offered, grabbing an arm to hoist him to his feet.

"Cheers."

Buffy seemed pensive and kept her voice under the increasing volume of the girls.

"You think this priest guy is important?"

Doyle rubbed his neck. "I bloody hope so. If the Powers are going to do that to me for nothing I'm gonna complain." Buffy's glare stopped his joking, "But seriously, yeah: this guy is bad news. Got a special thing about hurting girls and none to shy about expressing it. Not your average human either – way too strong, but I don't think he's a demon."

Buffy looked thoughtful. "Can you tell us anything else? Where he might be? What he's planning?"

"Sorry princess. The Powers gave me a heads up – that's it."

Buffy sighed. "Well I suppose it's something…"

"No it's not!" One of potentials exclaimed. "The only thing we know now that we didn't know before is that there's another thing coming to get us!"

Buffy didn't look happy at being challenged. "It's something, it's a warning. We know not to treat this guy like a normal human, that he'll be stronger. And whatever he is, this guy is a link to the First and that's something we can exploit."

"It's true." Anya offered dryly. "Minions are always the weak link in any evil scheme. They end up blabbing the whole plan and are easily thwarted."

"We'll patrol tonight. I want you girls ready for whatever's coming."

"Mind if I tag along?" Oz asked from the back of the crowd. "It's been a while."

"Good idea. Doyle, you come too."

"What?! I've done my bit princess, and I've got the headache to show for it."

"Giles says Bracken demons are pretty strong. If you're going to be fighting with us I need to know what you're capable of."

"Strong, maybe, but this ain't my kind of fighting. I'm more the break a bottle over his head, kick him when he's down and run like hell kinda guy, you know?"

"So you're not one for heroics, that's a good thing. We've got no time for it. But I can't afford any unknowns: you're coming."

Buffy strode through the press of girls back to the living room.

"Is she always this pushy?" Doyle asked no one in particular.

"Only when the fate of the world's at stake." Oz offered.

Doyle nodded, stopping quickly as a red hot nail of pain stabbed him in the eye. "Gotcha."


	5. Chapter 5

"I don't like this," Doyle said, looking round nervously as they walked through the dark cemetery Buffy in the lead, Spike, Oz and Doyle bringing up the rear.

"What's to like?" One of the potentials, Rona, shot back.

"I mean we're going hunting vampires when there's agents of the First lurking about. Isn't that a little low on the priorities right about now?"

"You'd rather be fighting those damn uber vamps?" Spike asked.

Doyle paused. "Well, no, I'd rather be back at the house with a nice thick magical shield between and then to tell you the truth."

"I wouldn't bet on it. Last time the witch tried to do any kind of magic she sucked the energy out of the strongest people in the room." Spike looked Doyle up and down appraisingly. "I bet a half Bracken demon would be mighty tasty."

"You dated this girl?" Doyle asked incredulously, looking at Oz.

"It's a long story-"

"A-hem!"

Buffy stood at the front of the group glaring at them, her arms folded.

"If we're all ready? Oof!"

Buffy stumbled as she was hit from behind by a vampire wielding a fence post.

"That was really dumb," she told it, pulling a stake as the other girls did the same turning to face the vampires that were surrounding them.

"Trying to be smart are you," Spike said, changing his face, "too bad for you."

As Spike leapt into the fray and Oz staked a vampire that had one of the potentials pinned, Doyle noticed another coming straight for him with no one in the way to take care of it.

"Can't we talk about this?" he asked, hefting his stake uncomfortably as he held his arms wide and inviting. "Guess not." He said as he ducked a wild swing, scrabbling away.

He was just wondering how long he could dodge this bastard when the thing suddenly stopped dead, perking up its head before it rabbited for cover.

"Yeah you better run!"

There was a flurry of screams from the direction of the crypt and suddenly Doyle found himself running towards them. He could remember when he had started running towards screams when he heard them rather than heading as fast as possible in the opposite direction, but he couldn't do anything else now.

Though he rather wished he had when he saw what they were up against. The way it threw Buffy and Spike around like dolls probably meant that was a Turukhan.

It seemed they had help though – there was something else attacking the uber vamp. Maybe some kind of demon? It was roughly human shaped, but had too much hair and definitely too much in the way of claws and teeth…almost like an old werewolf movie…werewolf…

"Oz!"

By the time he got to them Buffy and Spike were down, though they were showing signs of life, and the girls that weren't screaming and running were doing as much good as a fly swatter on an elephant. Oz was the only one who seemed to done any damage to the thing, but that was about to change. Doyle slipped eagerly into his demon form and launched himself at the thing.

They were doing damage now but not enough. Doyle slipped and the thing's hands grabbed his head and twisted. He heard girls screaming as he stumbled and fell.

There were more screams as he pulled himself up, twisting his head back to its proper position.

"I hate that! Let's see how you like it!"

Oz had knocked the thing down to the ground and was tearing at its throat with his claws and teeth, and Doyle was only a little disturbed by its black blood before he grabbed the thing's head, twisted, and pulled, falling heavily onto the grass as it came off in his hands.

It took a little while for Oz to realise what had happened and when he did he retreated a safe distance from the rest of them, glancing nervously, almost hungrily, at Buffy and the girls before he turned and strode away.

Doyle reverted to his human form, panting heavily where he sat and wiping his hands free of vamp dust on the dewy grass.

"Nice," Buffy said, looking down at him, "the head thing."

"Thanks."

She sighed as she looked over to where the girls stood crying and trying to stop each other's bleeding.

"Come on, we better head back."

Buffy walked away to talk to the girls, but Spike came up after her and offered Doyle a hand, pulling hi to his feet.

"Nice moves."

"I'm not planning on making a habit of it. Besides it was Oz who did most damage."

"Yeah looks like wolf-boy's been learning some new tricks."

"Did I hurt anyone?" The object of their conversation asked as he walked up, fully human.

"Only the ugly one and you're welcome to hurt them as much as you like."

"Are you coming?" Buffy called a potential's arm over her shoulder as they limped away.

She didn't wait for a response before turning away, but Spike, Oz and Doyle fell into step behind them.

"Man I could use a drink." Doyle said.

Oz spat on the grass. Even in the little light there was from the moon there was no doubt the blood he spat out wasn't his own.

"You're telling me."


End file.
